


I will keep you safe.

by orphan_account



Category: Death Note
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fluff, M/M, Unrepentant Fluff, autistic L, thunder storms
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-02
Updated: 2015-06-02
Packaged: 2018-04-02 14:03:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4062688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>More awful fluff, prompted by the same friend: L is afraid of storms.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I will keep you safe.

The first time it storms - really, truly storms - L screams and falls out of his chair. It's like the Shinigami incident all over again, except the concept of Shinigami was an illogical one and even Light screamed the first time he saw one. Before he'd thought it was a joke and L's reaction seemed like melodramatic overkill for such a simple and unbelievable statement. It was a just a metaphor, obviously, or so he'd thought at the time.

It was refreshing, in a way, to be surprised every so often by the thoughts and reactions his lover had to things, even if they were completely ridiculous.

And this reaction was no different. It was just a clap of thunder, for god's sake. The man was nearly thirty, what the hell was he shouting about? 

Light kept the agitation out of his voice when he turned to his partner and asked, "What is it?"

He'd pulled himself into a sitting position, pulling his knees up to his chest and gripping the fabric of his jeans so tightly his knuckles were turning white. "Nothing," he said quickly, not bothering to turn and look at Light.

Light frowned, looking over the top of his book. Before he had time to comment again, there was another flash of lightning and accompanying thunder. L let out a strange, strangled squeaking noise, ducking his head. 

Light was bemused. He'd seen dogs and cats and his little sister Sayu when she was younger acting like this, but he'd never seen a full grown adult react to a storm like this. And it wasn't as if it was unexpected; the news had been calling for storms all day, for the past week and a half. They needed it, after how hot it had been. So long as it didn't knock their power out for too long or cause any permanent damage to the city, Light was actually pretty thankful for the rain and was content to sit and listen to it fall.

His boyfriend, not so much. His eyes were still wide open, and there was something entrancing about watching the lightning reflect off his eyes as his whole body, with the exception of his face, flinched at the noise. His eyes, as always, remained passive; his mouth was drawn into a frown, but not an exaggerated one. The corners of his mouth were turned down, slightly, but it was hardly the look he gave when disappointed with Matsuda's stupidity or one of Light's bad jokes ( _Honestly, Light, that joke is elementary at best_ ).

Light thought the right word might be  _grimace_ , and he started to set his book down when the man in front of him stood abruptly. 

"I'm going. To go and get something." L announced, awkwardly. Light watched him exit the room, picking his book back up and flipping through the chapter. He gave L a good five minutes before he put his book down and followed suite, moving to their bedroom. L wasn't on the bed, but Light really wasn't expecting him to be.

He sighed, standing in the doorway with his hands on his hips, and muttered, "I can't believe it. The greatest detective in the world, afraid of thunderstorms."

"I'm not  _afraid_ ," L snapped. Light narrowed his eyes. The sound came from under the bed. "They're just....distracting. I can't think."

Light hummed, unconvinced. Watari had told him, before he'd agreed to let them move in together, L had some "peculiar habits". That wasn't news for Light - he'd been handcuffed to the other man during the Kira investigation and worked closely with him for several cases after that. He was more than aware of the way L sat in chairs and mumbled to himself in a running monologue and hovered over Light as he slept and didn't blink during sex. It was unusual, sure, but none of it was something Light hadn't come to expect.

This, however. This was...childish. And, in a way, worrisome. If anything he'd expected L to either stare at the lightning as if expecting it to hold the answers to all the mysteries of life, or for him to simply not notice it was raining at all. He certainly wasn't expecting his partner to hide under the bed like a petulant child.

Light moved closer to the bed and, although it was a little embarrassing, crouched down until he was close enough to poke his head under and stare at his boyfriend, knees still drawn up to his chest as he laid on his side with his thumb between his teeth. "Do I need to call Watari?" he asked.

"No!" L shouted. "That won't be necessary."

"Then are you going to come out from under the bed?" Light asked.

L gave him a look. "There are no rooms in our apartment without windows."

That wasn't quite true - the bathroom didn't have windows. He didn't really want to encourage L though, so he kept that piece of knowledge to himself, pedantic thought he could be. "Why are you hiding if you're not afraid?" he asked.  _It's just a storm_ , he thought, but didn't say.

L looked at him as though he was being purposefully obtuse. "I told you. I can't think with all the noise."

Light sighed. He didn't have quite the same flexibility as L, so going under the bed to talk to him would be difficult. Nonetheless he laid his body flat and scooted under the bed, pulling himself closer to L with his fingers. "I don't think that's quite true," Light said, almost conversationally. He grabbed L's hand to drag the thumb from his mouth and laced their fingers together, ignoring the mental wince at the feeling of L's wet thumb on his hand. His grip was tight. "I think storms make you uneasy because you can't control them."

L had tried to move his other hand up to bite his thumb, but it was too difficult with all the weight he was pressing on that side of the body to move it. He settled for tapping the fingers of those hands on his knee, contemplating what Light had said. "I suppose that could be true," he mumbled. "But there are many things I can't control. Like people, for example. That doesn't mean I'm afraid of them."

The sarcastic part of Light that was starting to feel cramped under the tight space wanted to argue that L was, in fact, afraid of people; there was a reason he never gave out his real name. But the man had control over the police forces and intelligence agencies of the world. L had managed to talk him into not only buying sweets, but eating them; and Light had never in his life had a sweet tooth. And if L's suspicions about him having been Kira at one point in time were correct, Light knew there was every possibility that L was the reason he was no longer Kira.

The thought scared him almost as much as it intrigued him. He often thought it was a good thing he loved L, and that L loved him. He'd hate to think what would happen if they were enemies. He didn't know or honestly really care who would win - he was certain that winning together was better than winning apart.

Light shook his head to break himself from his thoughts. "When I was a kid," he prompted, "My parents always told me that the sound of thunder was the gods bowling."

L bit his lip, holding back a smile. "I don't really believe in a higher power," he said. Then paused. His arm tried moving his hand up to his mouth again, as a compulsion. "Well, I guess I can't say I don't really believe anymore. I suppose if Shinigami can eat apples, they can bowl as well. Although they did seem pretty lazy..."

Light laughed softly. "You ready to come out from under the bed now?" L frowned at him, but he neither shook his head nor said no. "I'll keep you safe from the storm," Light said. "I promise."


End file.
